Zim unveils 100 trillion dollar note

January 16, 2009 12:00 am

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By , HARARE, Jan 16 – Zimbabwe will introduce a 100 trillion dollar note, in its latest attempt to keep pace with hyperinflation that has left the once-vibrant economy in tatters, state media said Friday.

The new 100,000,000,000,000 Zim-dollar bill would have been worth about 300 US dollars at Thursday’s exchange rate on the informal market, where most currency trading now takes place, but the value of the local currency erodes dramatically every day.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is introducing three other notes in trillion-dollar denominations of 10, 20 and 50, the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper said.

The move is designed to allow workers to withdraw their entire salaries at once, the paper said.

Just last week, the bank had introduced billion-dollar bills in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 with the same goal, but those notes are no longer large enough to keep up with hyperinflation.

The last official estimate put inflation at 231 million percent in July, but outside experts now believe it is many times higher.